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June 12, 2015

Happy Endings Lead to Bad Decisions

Humans are so strongly inclined toward happy endings that we often make poor decisions based on recent experiences while discounting earlier ones. Jess stopped by The Morning Show to discuss how these new research findings can be applied to dating and relationships. She also weighs in on the reasons why Millenials are opting to stay single for longer. Check out the video below.

“The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, supports the idea that the ‘banker’s fallacy’ – focusing on immediate growth at the expense of longer-term stability that would produce better results – is intuitive in the way many of us make quick decisions.

People’s natural inclination towards a ‘happy ending’ means that we often ascribe greater value to experiences than they are worth, say researchers, meaning that we end up overvaluing experiences with a final uptick over those that taper at the last minute, despite being of equal or even lesser overall value, and making our next moves on that basis.

Writing in the journal, they use the analogy of a three-course dinner: it has mediocre starter, a fine main, and an excellent dessert. This will be viewed much more favourably – and have much more weight in any future decision – than the inverse: an excellent starter and ending with a mediocre dessert, despite the fact that overall both experiences share equal value.”